Night meetings aren't all Bad

My position at the Quabbin requires attendance at numerous night meetings and this Monday was no exception. Two hours in a crowed room, swatting mosquitoes, drawn by the exhaling crowd, and listening to the emotionally charged conversation. Lightning flashed in the night sky over Quabbin Reservoir as the crowd dissipated. Jonathan Yeo and I exited out the rear door locking up the office for the night when a large moth flashed from the breezeway.

Ilia Underwing Catacola ilia (8801) Underwings are a wonderful group of moths whose cryptic coloration keeps them well hidden from predators until the flash of the colorful under wing pattern startles the would be predator allowing a hasty escape. I first heard about them in the 1970's at Focus Outdoors at UMass where the renowned entomologist Ted Sargent talked of baiting moths with sugar and stale beer (Dad's beer was never safe again). Underwings were Ted's favorite; secretive and not usually attracted to lights making the development of special baits a kind of competition to find the secret ingredients that will fool these mysterious moths into view. Ted Sargent was also fascinated by the English names given species in this group of moths including the Sweetheart, Darling, Once-married, Mother, and the Penitent.

I don't see these beauties very often and this Ilia Underwing was the first I've been able to photograph in recent times. A great way to end an evening